Catherine Visits Gil and Sara 14
by sarapals with past50
Summary: Follows Costa Rica, Catherine pays a visit to the new home of Gil and Sara with a little mystery of her own to solve. Short story.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Here's a new one with Catherine visiting the Grissom's (post Costa Rica) in their new life. Enjoy!!_

**Catherine Visits Gil and Sara: Chapter 1**

Catherine Willows stepped out of her rental car into bright sunlight, a clear, cloudless sky, and total quietness—quiet to her ears accustomed to the constant barrage of city sounds. Of course, complete silence is a rare event. She heard the ping and pop of the engine cooling and her feet as she moved across gravel. She brushed unseen dust from her dark pants and stood still for a few minutes.

Middle of nowhere, she called this place on her first visit—had it really been a year? She counted on fingers discovering her last visit had occurred almost thirteen months ago. Time had at once flown by and stood still. So many things were the same, so much had changed.

The absolute silence surrounded her again as she surveyed the place. The house, with its broad, long porch was as quiet as the outside. She realized there were sounds, a low hum coming from a patchwork of colors near the porch; flowers hugged the porch and climbed trellises and railings as bees hovered and disappeared in hollows of red, yellow, pink, and purple blooms. Her eyes followed the tiny flying insects across the grass to white boxes arrange in tidy rows. Neat rows of beehives; a project, she thought as she smiled. Beyond the white boxes more flowers grew in a riot of bright colors.

A cat sat in the shade of the open garage and watched as Catherine turned in a slow circle. An almost complete building sat well away from the house at the edge of some kind of grassy field. The workroom she had heard about—Gil saying it was a place for his hobbies; Sara emailing that he needed a place for storage.

Two cars were in the garage and she was certain there was no missing vehicle, so wherever the two had gone, they were on foot or had been picked up. She turned back to the cat that stayed in his spot watching the visitor.

"I guess I wait." Catherine said to the cat.

The porch stretched along the front of the house, shaded by the roof and flowering vines, inviting her out of the sun. She heard nothing to indicate anyone was around; just the cat, who followed her to the porch.

The Grissom's—Sara and Gil—knew she was coming. She had called as soon as she left the conference center and set the GPS to their address which caused her to be even more puzzled by their absence. She pressed the door bell—shaped like a small lizard, she noticed, hearing the chime echo inside the house. She pulled out her phone and punched a number. Within seconds, she heard the ring of the phone inside the house. Turning, she saw the porch swing.

Minutes passed as Catherine waited, not at all sure what to do next. Her current life did not have long moments of idleness or solitude and certainly few times to sit in a swing. She wasn't leaving; they were expecting her. The droning buzz of hundreds of bees, the cool breeze blowing through the porch relaxed her body and mind; her eyes closed until a different noise, one of voices, caught her ears. She looked in the direction of the sounds, muted words, and laughter. A hat, she recognized the hat and laughed as two figures and a dog moved into her sight.

Like a scene in a movie, the two walkers slowly became distinct adults, one wearing an old hat and baggy pants with a bulky bag across his shoulders. The woman—she knew that slim figure as well as she knew the man underneath the hat—had thrown her head back in a laugh. Catherine stood and watched the couple as their hands touched in an intimate gesture of familiarity and, unknowing they were being watched, his hand slid to the woman's backside with a stroke of cherished affection. Not for the first time, she wondered how long these two had shared a secret life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Catherine Visits Gil and Sara: Chapter 2**

The pouch bag he carried wiggled, and Catherine realized, as both heads bent to its content, what he carried—their baby; the reason for her visit, the reason she had agreed to attend a one-day seminar and make the drive to this oasis the couple called home. As Sara's head came away from the baby, she saw the car and just as quickly, saw Catherine standing on the porch.

Instantly, they were calling her name; she called each one by name and slow footsteps turned into a meeting of friends, hands touched, hugs were given and received, welcoming words said.

Sara was the first to say, "You are early—earlier than we thought!" She was the one to lift the baby from the carrier so that Catherine could turn to her old friend, her former boss, and mentor, giving him a two-armed hug as he returned the gesture. Once his familiar arms were around her, Catherine realized how much she missed this man, his presence in her life, his calmness, his wisdom.

She blinked back forming tears as she held him seconds longer than usual for two old friends. She turned to the baby Sara held, "This is Elizabeth!" Her voice trembled as she said the words. If either parent noticed, they gave no sign.

"Bizzy, we call her Bizzy." Grissom said, smiling as any proud parent when the baby looked at him before she looked at the strange woman.

Catherine took the offered baby, cooing indiscernible words of baby talk as she cradled the child in her crooked arm, smelling that baby aroma that is found no where else, touching dark curls as blue eyes watched her with a guarded, cautious look oddly similar to the same expression of one parent. Catherine, if she could have voiced a fleeting thought, would have said the child's eyebrow rose slightly.

Sara spoke, more to the baby than to Catherine. "She's okay, a friend. Can you smile?" And with the soft assurance of her mother's voice, the baby smiled; first at her mother, her father, then to the woman who held her.

"Oh, Sara, she's adorable. Good baby?" Catherine asked.

Grissom answered, "Of course." He pulled the baby carrier over his head. "She sleeps great; she eats—well, drinks. She loves her snuggle thingee, here."

Catherine, always one who prided herself on controlling emotions, dropped her eyes to the baby, blinking rapidly again. Quickly, she thought of times when she had seen these two people in such different, such sad circumstances, and now, they were joyful, smiling, an aura of peace surrounded their lives.

Without pause, Sara's hand touched Catherine as the baby gurgled and cooed. "Come inside. You've had a long drive. Grissom can get your bags—I'll get you a drink."

Recovered, Catherine smiled. She looked at Sara and walked into the house, turning to Grissom. "The black bag, and the tote, and the—oh, just bring everything!" Everyone laughed.

Within minutes, Sara handed Catherine a glass of lemonade, Grissom banged the door as he brought in multiple bags mumbling about "coming to stay a month" and carried one bag upstairs. The two women drifted slowly around the room, asking questions and making comments about little things in life. Grissom returned for additional bags.

"Come up, I'll show you the room," he said as he shouldered the last of her bags. "What did you bring—are you moving in?" He laughed as he headed upstairs with Catherine on his heels after she returned the baby to Sara.

Catherine complimented the house as he showed her the bedroom, the bathroom, welcomed her again, pleased she had come to visit, telling her to get comfortable and meet them on the porch. Again, Catherine's usual hidden emotions almost overwhelmed her as she watched him move around the room, opening blinds and windows. The same soft, husky voice she had heard every day for so many years brought back so many memories. The same man who taught her so much, mentored her in ways of life and work, who had known her secrets and made her feel proud or wretched about her actions, stood before her asking a question she had not even heard.

"Are you okay, Catherine?" He asked.

"I am, Gil, I am. I think—you and Sara—you are happy." She snapped a smile across her face. "It suits both of you."

His face never changed, but his eyes brightened, glowed with some inner light. "Yes, we are. It's a life neither of us thought possible, but we've taken to it—it's where we need to be, the right place, the right time." He leaned forward and gently brushed her forehead with his lips. "Get comfortable—take off those boots and walk around barefooted." He took her glass. "I'll get you something to drink—a little stronger than Sara's lemonade!"

Catherine changed clothes, found a thick envelope in one bag and returned downstairs; a large cold mojito sat on the table. She heard voices from the porch.

At the door, she stopped; again, her emotions almost surfaced. Grissom had pulled a chair near the swing. Sara's feet rested in his lap while she held their baby girl, close, against her chest. Catherine's breath caught in her throat as she realized Sara was nursing. Grissom's hands were massaging Sara's calf and ankle. Catherine felt like an intruder yet both had heard her arrive and looked in her direction.


	3. Chapter 3

**Catherine Visits Gil and Sara Chapter 3**

"Bizzy was hungry—long walk," Grissom chuckled. "You found your drink, I see." He turned and indicated the swing. "We want to hear everything—about everyone."

Catherine sat next to Sara, trying to remember if she had ever watched a woman do what Sara was doing. Sara smiled, noticing Catherine's glance.

"I decided I wanted to do this," Sara said as she stroked the baby's head. "Chances are—at our age she may be the only one we have and I wanted to make sure she got a good start." The baby waved a hand, making gulping sounds as Catherine's finger touched the bottom of a small foot. A second passed and another sound erupted from underneath Sara's shirt, a definite giggle as the baby's face appeared, a smile on her face.

Effortless, with a quick movement of hand, Sara brought the baby upright and smoothed her shirt. Grissom took the baby saying he would be right back and disappeared into the house.

"You're happy, Sara. Gil is happy—you look content." Catherine said as she fingered the envelope in her hand. "I'm—I don't know what to say. Bizzy is beautiful."

"Thank you, Catherine. We are happy—very happy." Sara sighed and looked at her friend and former co-worker. "A few years ago, I could never have imagined this life—I'm not sure I knew this kind of life existed." She laughed, "But it does. Gil has rediscovered his love of insects; he's proofreading a textbook; he's been a guest speaker in the city several times. He's—he's happy."

The subject of her conversation appeared at the doorway, holding his daughter. "She refuses to sleep knowing company is on the porch."

Sara looked at Catherine. "And he is happiest when he's with her." She moved to the chair so Grissom could sit in the swing.

Catherine had watched his hands handle evidence, insects, the smallest tools of their work, but she had never seen him hold a baby. Her hand came to her mouth as she yet again managed to suppress her feelings. The two people recognized her hesitation, her uncertainty with her emotions.

Grissom held the baby at eye level and said "Let your Aunt Catherine take a good look at you." The little baby wiggled and cooed as he passed the baby to Catherine's arms.

She inhaled the sweet fragrance of baby hair and skin as she nestled the baby against her face. "You never forget that smell," Catherine said. "I can remember Lindsey at this age—it passes so quickly." She played with a small hand, inspected little toes, and gently rubbed the back of the baby as they both relaxed in the swing. The stuffed envelope was forgotten for now.

Grissom and Sara talked, asked questions about everyone in the lab, laughed at Catherine's quietly told stories of personal events in the lives of the people they knew. Doc Robbins had new puppies. Greg continued to work on his book deal for publishing his Las Vegas stories. Hodges was the same, obnoxious tech he had always been, valuable one minute and a total creep the next. Everyone laughed at her descriptions.

"Nick? How is Nick?" Grissom asked.

Catherine shifted her hold on Bizzy who had fallen asleep against her neck. Sara reached for the baby, but Catherine shook her head. "Let me hold her for a while. Nick is fine—he really is doing well. He and Jim have taken Ray on as their special project, putting him through the ropes, waking him up to hustle him to a crime scene." Catherine eyed Grissom. "I know where Nick learned that trick."

Sara giggled behind her hand as she remembered doing the same to Greg. Grissom acted innocent, clueless to their shared mirth, before joining in their quiet laughter.

Later, the baby was placed in her bed and Grissom showed Catherine the beehives, from a distance, the field of flowers, the vegetable garden, the construction of his workroom, the path to a small creek that marked the boundary to a wildlife preservation. They fell back into the pattern of long-time friends—Catherine talking and Grissom listening.

"You really like this, Gil?" Catherine asked. "You don't miss everything—the excitement, the puzzles, the answers, the…"

He broke in, "the paperwork, the murder and mayhem and chaos—no, I don't miss it. Not one time have I regretted leaving. It was time to go." He chuckled as they walked back to the house. "Sara knew it was time to leave; I should have followed her when she left the first time." He eyed her as she laughed. "You did tell me to do that—well, I did follow her, didn't I?"

"I can't get over how Sara has changed. She's—she's so…" Catherine stopped and waited to find the right word. "Relaxed."

Grissom laughed at her word. "We both are."


	4. Chapter 4

**Catherine Visits Gil and Sara Chapter 4**

…After dinner, Catherine retrieved the envelope from the porch. "I brought something to show you, get your opinion." She pulled papers out recognized by Grissom as copies of old police reports, tax records, and hand written pages. "There's more upstairs but these are the oldest copies." She slid a few pages to Grissom. He saw Sam Braun's name.

Catherine began her explanation. Her father had left most of his business affairs in an untidy shambles. One son dead, another in prison and a will named Catherine's mother and daughter as eventual heirs to personal property. After lawyers and taxes and liens and a hundred other claims were wound through courts, the business of Sam Braun had come to Catherine. She had settled most of the financial affairs in the offices of casino attorneys; young men and women, she said, who were well-schooled in the operations aspects of making money, legally, within the regulations of the Nevada Gaming Commission.

"Years ago," she explained, "Sam Braun made peace with the state of Nevada." Here her story changed courses. "I always believed Sam made his money on the dead. I know he got off at least once." She glanced at Grissom unsure if he needed a reminder. When he nodded his head in recognition, she continued. "In Vegas, no one got into the old casino business unless someone in the business opened the door—and most of the time it was because someone died—was killed."

She pushed more papers aside until she found a few pages, yellowed with age, and stapled together. "You two are the smartest people I know. I found all this in a box in Sam's house. It is his handwriting and he has written about how he weighed coins—there's a scheme here, scales were off, calibrated to weigh less, millions were skimmed off by the old casinos—back to Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, New York. That's well documented and it's all here, but there's more." She left the table and the scattered papers for Grissom and Sara while she ran upstairs, returning with another stack of files and a dozen thin black books.

"I almost gave this to Greg—you know how's he's always reading stuff about old Vegas. Now I'm glad I didn't. There's too much in here." The files and books joined the other papers on the table. "There's a code here—I've never been good with this kind of stuff. But you are—I know we can do this. I brought some old case files—officially I checked them out; I didn't say I was hauling them to another state!"

"Catherine," Grissom said in a quiet whisper, "Are you sure you want to do this? It can only hurt you—your mother, Lindsey."

She stood at the table, hands on her hips, her characteristic ironic smile on her face. "Gil, if we don't do this someone else will. I want to know—first. I'm not going to cover anything up but if it's in here, I want to find it. If we don't find anything, I don't think anyone else will."

The three people who had worked together for so long, solving crimes, thinking out loud, cross checking facts began the same process with hundreds of pages of Sam Braun's life. They separated certain pages and sat those to one side. Catherine talked about her father; Grissom added information he knew about events he had heard from conversations over the years. Sara listened and read. At times, one would find a paragraph or description or event and read it aloud, amazement in the voice as a story unfolded.

Sam Braun had arrived in Las Vegas as just another young man seeking work in the thriving gambling business. He quickly rose to be a key employee, manager level, apparently because of his ability to work with numbers—not just adding and subtraction, but in hiding large amounts of money. The well-known weighing of coins fell under Braun's business abilities but he kept at arm's length, never personally involved. Before he was thirty, he had made friends with the men who had money and who needed someone with an unblemished history to take on more responsibility. Sam Braun never had so much as a traffic ticket.

Around midnight as the trio read, placed events in chronological order, a thread developed. Catherine found the first event—when Sam Braun became a casino owner. Grissom found the original loan papers from a bank in Detroit with two signatures so faded with age it was impossible to determine who had signed the loan.

Within an hour, Sara found another name with a Detroit address listed in unsolved cases in Las Vegas. "Who is Dicky Menetti? He was killed, bullet to the head, in his own car." She found the loan papers at the same time Catherine shuffled another stack.

"Menetti's name is here. He worked for Sam." She pulled opened an old ledger book. "Looks like he was on the payroll for seven years. When did he die?"

Sara gave her a date.

"That's the last entry." Catherine turned pages in the ledger. "Looks like he was paid the day he died."

Grissom removed his glasses and wiped his face. "It's late. My eyes are running words together."

Catherine laughed. "I'm sorry—forgot you no longer work nights," she said.

Sara agreed. "We can continue tomorrow—just leave everything." She stretched, saying "Breakfast time will arrive very soon for a certain someone." When Catherine looked confused, Sara pointed down the hall. "Hungry baby doesn't wait."


	5. Chapter 5

**Catherine Visits Gil and Sara Chapter 5**

…Banging, the repetitive hammering and high-pitched whine woke Catherine and she was out of bed before she remembered she was in the county—a quiet rural setting yesterday, but this morning, the noise and men's voices were outside the open window. She stumbled to it and had to laugh. Grissom was running across the grass toward the construction site of his workshop where three men were busy with lumber, hammers, and some kind of electric saw. Grissom's arms were above his head, waving to the guys in an effort to quiet their work.

Laughing, Catherine washed her face, pulled her hair back, and quickly dressed. If Grissom was up, he had coffee. She found coffee and heard the sounds of baby babbles and gurgles in the direction of the nursery. Except when she arrived in the doorway, the crib was empty. She turned to the open door of the other room.

In the center of the bed, she saw Sara and Bizzy in a mother-baby pose that returned to Catherine's memory as one she shared with her own daughter nearly twenty years ago. For several minutes, she watched as Sara played with little feet and little hands causing peels of giggles to erupt from the baby. Catherine was unaware that Grissom had arrived behind her until he touched her shoulder and the sound she made caused Sara to turn.

"Catherine! Come in—Gil was hoping to keep things quiet so you could sleep."

Grissom, in sweat pants and tee shirt, crawled back into bed, beginning his own kind of interaction with Bizzy. The baby rolled from mother to father and an entirely different relationship became apparent to Catherine as she stood and watched.

"This happens every morning," Sara said. She smoothed covers across the bed and indicated for Catherine to sit with her. "I'm the breakfast and when she's finished with me, her dad comes in and does what you see now."

Catherine had forgotten how a baby can laugh—not sure she had ever heard one giggle, coo, and babble like this one. And she was certain no one in the lab would ever believe her when she reported this intimate family scene. Maybe she would not tell about this glimpse of private life she was privileged to witness.

Catherine sat on the edge of the bed. "Does this go on every day?" She asked.

Sara had arms around her legs, chin resting on her knees. "Yep. I'm ignored—all he needed was a womb!" She giggled when Grissom shot her a glance.

Catherine, never one to miss an opportunity, realized in this comfortable setting, she could ask a question she had sought the answer to twice, both times ignored by Grissom. "Sara, how long have you two been together?" Grissom looked in her direction. Sara's eyes went to his and back to Catherine.

"Why? What has he told you?" Sara asked, not pretending to hide her smile.

"Nothing!"

Grissom, looking at Sara, admitted, "She asked when she found the photograph on the refrigerator—how long ago?" He turned back to Bizzy bending his head near her so a small hand touched his cheek.

Sara kept her chin resting on her knees. "That picture was taken in San Francisco." She stopped as she remembered the occasion. "Twelve years ago. The first time we walked together—after a forensics conference."

"You've been together twelve years?" Catherine asked, the surprise registering in her voice.

Grissom chuckled. "Okay, Catherine. No, we were not 'together' all of that time, just part of that time. My fault—call it stubborn, stupidity, resisting the inevitable—we should have been together." He reached across the bed for Sara's hand. "I should have married this woman years ago. The biggest regret of my life will be that I did not do this a decade ago." He pulled her to him and kissed her. He laughed as he let her go. "Tell Hodges you watched me kiss Sara while we were all in the same bed."

Sara pushed off the bed. "I'll get breakfast." She pointed a finger at Grissom. "And Bizzy's favorite parent can get her dressed!"

**A/N: **_Three more chapters until this short story concludes!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Catherine Visits Gil and Sara Chapter 6**

Their morning passed quickly with the stacks of papers remaining on the table as breakfast was eaten, a walk taken to the garden, Bizzy was nursed on the porch with the two women talking as Grissom disappeared. They talked about Lindsey and college, mothers, babies, and a dozen other topics that could be discussed by women all over the world. Grissom returned with eggs and fruit from the neighboring farm.

"Let's take Catherine to lunch in town, drive her over to the state park," he suggested.

The outing took most of the afternoon; lunch, a walk in the small town, and another drive to a state park preserving the home of an author. Bizzy was carried by Grissom until a fretful cry had him pass the baby to her mother. Catherine watched in wonder as Sara took the baby, hitched her shirt up, and continued walking as Bizzy nursed.

"I don't think I've ever seen a woman do that," Catherine said.

Sara grinned. "It's how this is done all over the world, Catherine. When we were in Central America, women went everywhere with a baby tucked in a long scarf. We went to see the pyramids and in the middle of an Egyptian market, thousands of women, not one baby cried. The mothers carried their babies around the same way—nursed and kept on working." She laughed as she said, "Since I am not employed, I decided I could do the same thing—and I really love every minute with her." She paused a second as her hand cradled her baby, "I never thought I would do this."

Grissom had slowed his walk, wrapped an arm around Sara, and said, "It is amazing. Bizzy almost never cries. She never has to wait for her lunch—or afternoon snack. The maternal instinct is strong—I have never believed, until now, how strong—even though, Catherine, you have known for years."

Catherine turned to look at her friends; the couple walked with the same stride, his arm around her. "I know parental instinct is strong, especially with involved parents." They both smiled at her. Why, she thought, had no one noticed this bond between these two? It would continue to cause her to second guess every relationship around her.

Late in the afternoon, the three gathered around the papers spread across the table and, again, tried to piece together a puzzle with no answer. One dead Detroit guy who worked for Sam Braun did not lead to anything else.

"I know its here. Some way Sam Braun managed to borrow money to buy a casino. He became a—a very wealthy man. It wasn't luck. Nothing was that easy." Catherine sat back in her chair and spread her arms. "Why can't I figure this out?"

Sara closed a folder. "I'll fix something to eat. Keep reading. If it's here, we can find it."

They ate again, surrounded by the private writings of a dead man; Sara's head bent over a page of unreadable letters and numbers.

Catherine picked her sandwich up. "Who cooks in this household?" She chewed slowly. "This is an excellent sandwich—portobello mushroom, right? And dinner last night was excellent."

Grissom pointed to Sara. "She's good."

Catherine forked her salad. "You never cooked in Vegas. All I remember you eating were peanut butter sandwiches and—fruit."

They laughed. Sara said, "It's a different life now. We have time to cook, have a garden."

Two hours later, Grissom was in the swing with the baby when he heard a shout from one of the women. He stayed in the swing until he heard his name called and Sara and Catherine appeared in the door. Sara held one of the ledger books Catherine had brought with her. Both were smiling.

**A/N: **_This one is short--another post in a few hours and the last chapter later today! Enjoy!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Catherine Visits Gil and Sara Chapter 7**

"We haven't found Catherine's answer, but we have probably found enough—extortion." Sara said as she passed the ledger to Grissom and took Bizzy. He knew she could work a cross word puzzle, a secret code, a brainteaser, or a riddle better than anyone he knew.

Catherine's laptop was open and they had spread several pages across the table; red ink circled areas on each page. Sara let Catherine explain their findings.

"The Detroit guy came to Vegas and went to work at the same time as Sam did in a casino—looks like they worked together for several years. But he had a record. By the mid-1970s, the Nevada Gaming Commission required every employee who worked in key positions—handling money at any time—could not have an arrest record. Sam's friend was out of casino work. But he had ties to someone with money in Detroit—that's where and how Sam got his money for the casino!

"This Menetti ends up driving a car while his buddy Sam goes big time. If these ledgers are close to showing actual numbers, Sam paid the Detroit group back—it's all here—within seven years--$100 million. Can you imagine the money being taken in if that much is actually recorded? Probably half that much was skimmed off. Anyway, back to Menetti—Sam kept him on for seven years, paid off the loan, and in two months, he's dead.

"We think he came to Sam wanting more—a finder's fee or a reward, or blackmail, now that Sam was the owner of the casino. The guy would never approach Sam as long as his Detroit connections were involved." Catherine winked and grinned. "I mean where was Jimmy Hoffa when he disappeared? That group didn't play around."

Grissom had joined them at the table. "Where's your evidence for this story? How did you figure this out? Why would Sam kill this guy he's known for years?"

Catherine sighed; Sara giggled. "I told you he would say that." She flipped open one of the small black ledger books. "Alphabet code—easy once we figured it out." A paper was covered in Sara's writing, numbers and initials. Sam had kept up with payments made to different individuals, transposing names for numbers and money for letters of the alphabet. A tiny 'dot' separated each double or triple combination of letters. Sara had added zeros as she turned letters into numbers. Menetti's name, along with half a dozen others, had no additional entries two months after Sam Braun became the owner of the Rampart.

"Gil, I'm not out to prove a crime—I'm sure there were many. I want to know if there's any proof anywhere that my father murdered anyone. I'm convinced he did. I feel certain that this Detroit guy was not his first!" She laughed in her sarcastic manner. "It doesn't matter if we have no proof—that's good. Now I won't wake up one morning and find someone has written a book about it." She picked up the ledger books and took the small book from Sara. "These are going in your trash compactor—I don't want these getting into Greg's hands, or anyone else trying to decipher what's here." Catherine's laughter indicated her relief.

He chuckled. "Are you satisfied that you've not overlooked something?"

Sara laughed with him. "It doesn't look like Sam Braun was involved with the mayhem and murder on a regular basis." She reached to touch Catherine's arm. "What ever he did, Catherine, it doesn't make you what you are." She stood to leave the table. "I'm putting Bizzy to bed. You two talk all night, but I must get some sleep!" She kissed Grissom, said good night and disappeared down the hallway.

Catherine talked; Grissom listened. She discussed personal financial problems—having the wealth of Sam Braun dropped in her lap had opened up a financial network that she never imagined. She worried, but she had also turned it over to experts. She voiced concern about Lindsey, especially as she came to realize the money available to her. When both suppressed yawns, they said good night.

**A/N: **_Final chapter up in a few hours! Enjoy--thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Actually we are working on TWO, one will be ready by the end of February!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Catherine Visits Gil and Sara Chapter 8**

He was quiet as he undressed, noticing his wife in the center of the bed, and showered but by the time he curled beside her, she was awake and reached for him. Her kisses brought him into her arms as heat generated between them. She whispered words of desire into his ear. Her hands were on his face, in his hair, fingertips touched him in places only she could find. His own hands moved along her body to places he knew intimately.

Childbirth and breastfeeding had made her more responsive to her own desires. Her husband found an intense delight in the new-found sensitivity—his touch was lighter, her breasts—hypersensitive, she said. She could radiate heat and passion with a look, a touch of her hand. His desire for her was so great, at times he considered it inappropriate; he had to physically separate himself from her—lust, he said; Sara would giggle saying it came from his long history of suppressed desire to have sex with her. She made a joke, tease him, but would love him, providing what he wanted—sex, pure physical passion between two people who loved each other.

Sara knew she experienced a level of passion with this man that few women would ever find; she was always surprised that he had such physical desire for her. He would hold her, touch her, coax her into moving with him as they both swept into a whirlpool of warm waves. Tonight, breathless, they held each other and when she shivered, he wrapped covers around both of them creating a warm cocoon for sleep. He would wake early in the morning, listening as their world came awake, listening for the sounds from the nursery telling him their baby was awake. But tonight, he listened for Sara's contented breathing as she lay beside and underneath him. They would move apart later while asleep, but now, it felt right to have her like this.

…Catherine packed her bags knowing she had to leave this peaceful quiet world. She knew why Gil and Sara had chosen this place. Nothing here reminded them of the place where they had been—the place Catherine would always call home. It was a place of artificial abundance in comparison to this simple, idyllic home. She had known Gil so long that she had expected him to leave months before he actually left—when Sara left the first time, she knew he would ultimately follow her. She had never witnessed his personal emotions until the day Sara was kidnapped and in those hours, she saw a different Gil Grissom.

A few months later, when Sara suddenly left Las Vegas, Catherine realized how much he loved the younger woman. It still surprised her that he had not gone after her; but Sara returned to visit, and if he thought about leaving, he never mentioned it, not to her. Then Warrick died—none of them would ever be the same. And Grissom was deeply affected, doubly affected when she learned that he did not know where Sara had gone. She knew from that day—Grissom's days in Las Vegas were coming to an end.

Catherine's reluctance to leave was apparent in her face. She held the baby against her face trying to set the smell and feel of the infant into her brain. She hugged Sara; no longer a hesitant friendly embrace but one of true kinship, mother-to-mother. As she turned to Grissom, he laughed and pulled her into his arms.

"You are the best, Catherine. Because of you, I am here. We are here." He smiled as he released her, only to hug her again. "Come back. Don't be a stranger."

She left them standing in the driveway, waving, Sara holding the baby girl, Grissom's arm wrapped around his wife's shoulders, Hank sitting at his side, and a field of vibrant flowers behind them.

**A/N:**_ Thanks for reading--and special thanks to those who left a note/review on the Valentine's weekend! Hope you enjoyed this love-fest and bundle of fluff!! _


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